A watermelon won't grow in your belly!

It’s amazing some of the things we believed when we were children.

Were you ever told that if you eat watermelon seeds that a watermelon will grow in your stomach?

  I really believed my teachers were rich because they always wore church clothes. I thought they never went home and slept at school because when I came to school they were there and when I left they were there. I thought teachers never went to the bathroom, ever!

I  believed that when it thundered and the sun was shining that the devil was beating his wife. If it thundered again and the lightning flash that his wife was hitting him back.

  I believed the people on tv were midgets who squeezed inside the screen. I always searched for the door, but never found it.

  I believed that if I ate plenty of spinach, I’d have muscles like Popeye! I’ve been eating spinach for a half-century and my popeye muscles haven't ever popped up!

  There is one thing I believed when I was a child that I still believe today; that if I pray, God will hear my prayer. I believe that!

  I also believe that if I accept him, trust him, and obey him he will take care of me in this life and the next. I still believe that.

  If we could believe and trust God with the same innocence that we believed those silly things we believed as children, we could just about do anything.

  Mark 9:23 says "..If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes...."

  Lord, help my unbelief!

  

Facing the unknown is scary

It’s difficult to face the unknown. It’s just scary.

This month many youth are anticipating graduation from high school. But the day after graduation is scary because after graduation comes the unknown, next phase of life.

Those who face life without the support and company of a loved one face similar fears. They are about to face the unknown alone. That's scary.

  When we are facing a surgery in which we don’t know the expected outcome, that’s scary too. We worry about it, although we know we shouldn’t because it's scary.

  We feel the same way when our money runs low and we can’t find a job or housing It’s scary.

  It’s also scary when you realize that despite the fact that you have many friends and associates when it comes to facing that one thing that really scares you, you are almost alone.

  Almost alone. Almost.

  If you are a child of God you are never completely alone, God is always with you. It might get down to where it’s just you and him, but he won’t leave you to deal with your situation alone. That’s encouraging.

   Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 So if the next step in your life looks scary and has you feeling all alone, remember God is only a prayer away.

 Be encouraged. God will not forsake you.

  He will never leave you to face your unknown situation all by yourself.

We pray before we do everything, why?

  We go to the doctor when we are ill, but we pray before we go. The reason we pray before we go is because we ask God to use the doctor as his healing instrument. 

 We hire a lawyer to represent us in court, but we pray before we go to court. The reason we pray first is because we want God to use our lawyer as an instrument of our defense.

   We pray before we do everything because we ask God to interact with our situation in a way that moves us closer to his will.

   We recognize that all healing, blessings, and opportunities happen because of the grace of God and are often directed by God for our benefit. We also know that if we are saved from a bad outcome God, on occasion, God may say no to our prayer request.

    We accept that because we know if he says no, that is his will for us. That’s what happened to Jesus in the garden, he prayed not to go to Calvary, but he accepted the will of God. It ultimately benefited all of those who followed Christ and saved or souls.

    We pray because God knows best.

    That's the idea behind Jeremiah 17: 14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. 

    As you close out your day, pray a prayer of thanks, and humility. Let it conclude with thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

    

The Boogey Man won't get you!

When I was a kid I remember being told that if was bad, that the Boogey Man would get me. Since I did something bad every day, I hated to see the night come because I was afraid that the Boogey Man would get me.

Top that off with the fact that we lived next to a graveyard, the probability of being snatched into a grave by the Boogey Man was real to a five-year-old.

Now, I’m surprised that there are grown people who still believe in the Boogey Man.  The Boogey Man for grown folks is supposed to be a mysterious creature from a dark world who jumps in our world and causes problems.

The Boogey Man gets his power from our fear. The bigger our fear, the more powerful the Boogey Man.

Obviously, we do not fear the unknown, but trust God the Boogey Man is powerless. Our fear gives him power. Our faith kills him dead.

When the Boogey Man comes remember Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?”

As you face each day, you have no need to fear. God is your protector. 

The Boogey Man has no power over you.

It's a good day to praise God

 Many years ago May 1st was celebrated as “May Day.” It was generally celebrated with a festive spirit. It was a break from the routine, an excuse to celebrate.

May Day celebrated life

Schools, especially those in the South, celebrated May Day in a variety of ways t that included the suspension of classes and usual routines.

Many hosted assemblies and watched the crowning of the “May Queen.” The young lady selected was feted with gifts and praise and treated like royalty for a day.

May Day was a lot of fun, there were sweets served by the school cafeteria as the school and the rest of the world celebrated the advent of Spring.

Around the country, the day became a day of marches and protests about Worker’ rights, too.

The marches and protests started sounding too much like communism and no one wanted to do anything the communist did, so politics overshadowed the festivities and May Day soon disappeared in the USA.

Whether it's May Day or Any Day, we celebrate the joy of the Lord. It's a great day because God made it and he blesses us in it in ways we cannot see.

Psalm 145:2  reminds us that,  “Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Every day every of the week, we celebrate God's gift of salvation through Christ and the gifts he has made available to us.

It's a great day because God is good and his mercy endureth for ever.

Never lose hope, it will come

   I remember reading the poems of Langston Hughes as a student. One of them stuck with me, especially after it became the subject of the play “A raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry.

  The poem was called “A dream deferred” It asked the question, “What happens to a dream differed, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

   The short poem defined the frustrations of the youth of my generation who burned down Watts, rioted after the assassination of Dr. King, shouted Black Power. 

  

We were angry because the dream of justice and equality seemed like a hopeless nightmare.

   Hughes's poem said when hope is lost it may fester like a sore and run, stink like rotten meat or it might explode.

   Today, another generation is angry because of hope deferred, it’s marching and screaming, too.

   As a young man, I found hope in the promises of God. I learned to constantly push to make dreams happen, but despite the frustrations, never lose hope.

  I kept the promise of fulfillment in front of me. I found consolation in Proverbs 13:12 which says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

   Whatever your dream, don’t lose hope. Keep working to make it happen. 

   If God has blessed it, it will happen.

Auto Correct me, Lord

    I write my thoughts on my cell phone or I pad, but sometimes I notice that my final product is not what I wrote. It appears that my phone has a feature called “auto correct” that suggests the correct spelling of a word and allows me to use the suggestion.
   

AutoCorrect Me, Lord

But sometimes, I notice that even after I have typed correctly what I wanted,  the cellphone changes my word and puts in another. Once I sent a message to a man named Jesse. The message was “Jesse, this is my email address” but Jesse was replaced with Jesus and the message became “Jesus, this is my email address”

   Since the phone, computers, and iPads remember our most used phrases, it assumed that I really want to say, “Jesus” instead of Jesse. Not that time.
  

 As Believers we do have an autocorrect feature, however, He is called the Holy Spirit. He works on our conscience when we know we’ve done wrong and prompts us to correct ourselves.
 

 The prophet asked God to correct him. He said it was a good thing. He said in Jeremiah 10:24, “Correct me, O Lord, but with Justice, not with your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.
 

  We Thank God for the Holy Spirit it corrects us automatically every day and the blood of Christ erases our mistake automatically giving us a clean slate.
  

 Thank God for auto-correct.

The 190 Foot Cross makes travelers look twice

    A few years ago our youth group, on a summer trip, traveled down 1-40 near Groom, Texas and saw an awe-inspiring sight 20 miles outside of the small town.  A giant cross loomed in the air. 
   We stopped when we got there in wonder at this huge 190-foot tall cross that invited truckers and travelers like us to stop and worship while on the road.
   

That Sunday, we did just that. We stopped and worshipped at the foot of that humongous cross.
   In Southwestern Ohio, there is 62 statue of Jesus with his arms lifted up in a pose similar to a referee’s touchdown signal in football.
   The giant Jesus has hands big enough to hold a truck. It has caught the imagination of believers along I-75 because the state reports that the number of highway deaths in that area dropped to zero immediately after the Jesus statue was erected by a local church.
   Jesus and the cross are mysteries to those who don’t believe.
   I doubt that a statue of Christ stops highway wrecks, but I do know that if Christ is lifted up, he will save those who believe in him from their sins.
   It doesn’t have to be 190 feet tall and neither does it need to dangle around your neck, but the cross of Christ, when it is carried in our hearts, reminds us of God’s saving grace.
   We should lift up his name in any way we can like the folks did in Texas. We will reflect Jesus' words in John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
    Like the statue on I-75, Jesus stands in front of us showing us the way to victory over Satan and the problems he causes in our lives.
    It’s up to us to trust him.

Dreaming about riches

 Most of us have dreamed of being rich at one time or another because we connected riches with happiness. We saw ourselves living in big mansions, with swimming pools, cars, diamond rings, gold platted bath tubs, and servants.

My thoughts were altered after I saw a movie about the last man on earth. Everyone on earth had disappeared left him with the best of everything. He had access to fine apartments, suitcases filled with money, and fast cars..everything! He was rich, but he soon tired of all because all of his riches had little purpose. I concluded it was better to be comfortable and living with a purpose than rich and my only purpose is to get richer. Even though we know money can't make us happy, we take every chance we get to be sure. The believer can handle life any way that it is served. If we are rich, we'll serve the Lord, but if we lose it all or never get there we're still happy in the Lord. Happiness is tied to things, but joy comes from inside and is not dependent on things.. It comes from the Lord. Our attitude of joy in any situation is reflected in Philippians 4:12 "I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation—to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need." If you measure yourself by the size of your bank account, house or car, you'll always be unhappy. Because we know the Lord, we measure ourselves by our ability to fulfill our life purpose; that gives us joy. Most of us aren't rich, but we look at our families and what they are becoming, we are content that we have successfully accomplished God's will.

Let it go and be at peace

 Two men walked through the woods until they came to a wide river. Each one carried a backpack that contained all of their worldly goods. At the riverside, their feet began to sink in the muddy waters and the weight of their backpacks pushed them further into the mud.

It appeared that they would never cross. As they slid deeper into the mud and drowning became inevitable.

Finally, one man said, let's take off the backpacks and swim for the opposite shore. The other man was reluctant to let go of his backpack because it contained all of the stuff he thought he needed to survive.

Eventually, both men dropped their packs and swam safely to the other side. However, once on the other side the second man complained that he had lost his backpack and all of his stuff; he was very unhappy. The first man said, "Your feet are safely only dry ground and all you can worry about is the stuff that nearly killed you. Be at peace, the stuff you are worrying about would have killed you if you had not let it go."

Are you trying to move to another level but "stuff" is holding you back. Sometimes it might be better to leave it behind, be at peace and be glad you can stand on dry ground.

To be at peace think about 2 Thessalonians 3:16,  "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you."

If it's dragging you down and has you stuck in the mud, let it go and be at peace.

Don't ring the bell

 In 1997 there was an exciting movie called “GI Jane” that caught the imagination of many people. It featured Demi Moore as the first woman to qualify for the Navy Seals program.

The Seal trainees faced grueling tests of strength and endurance including what’s referred to by trainees as “hell week” in which they had little sleep, ate food from the trash, and faced an exhaustive physical test.

GI Jane won the hearts of the male trainees when she cut her hair like a man, trained like a man, and eventually saved the life of her master Chief.

They tried relentlessly to get her to drop out by ringing a large bell saying she gave up. She refused and became a Navy Seal.

Sometimes life puts all of us through a grueling test of endurance, but we have resolved not to drop out, give up or ring the bell.

That's the message of 2 Chronicles 15:7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

We choose to never give up but trust God.

Don’t give up and don’t ring the bell in defeat.

It's terrible to doubt yourself

  Doubt is a dream killer.  

  How do you expect to accomplish a Godly purpose if you doubt your own ability, even under God's power?

 

Moses told to speak to Pharaoh. It was a simple task, but since he didn't speak well he doubted himself.  He responded to God's command with “What ifs.” What if they don’t believe me? What if they don’t listen to me or laugh at me? He paid more attention to the prospects of failure than he did to the victory. 

  God promised victory, but Moses responded with “buts.” What ifs are victory killers, and zeal quenchers. 

 Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

  Excuses will relegate us to second best. 

  God uses what we have, and has never demanded from us what we do not have. We will never know the full potential of what can be done until we are willing to offer it to God. God is not looking for excess ability; he is looking for availability.

  Whatever you do, don't doubt what you can do with God by your side.

So many dreams, which one do I pursue?

   Is it possible to have so many dreams that we miss out on the big one trying to chase after every little dream we can think of? 
   Sometimes our real dream can get lost in the shuffle while we are chasing after everything else.
   
Consider the hungry wolf who dreamed of having chicken for dinner. So he watched the hen house carefully and saw all of the fat hens moving around. Finally, he chased after one big fat hen, but just as he was gaining on the hen a rabbit crossed his trail. It was the biggest rabbit that he'd ever seen. He instantly forgot about the Hen who was eluding him and started to chase after the rabbit that seemed bigger and closer. After a few twists and turns, a squirrel appeared in the road. The squirrel was so close that he could touch it, so he changed course and went after the amber little animal. Just as he was about to catch the squirrel, it disappeared. He spotted a rat and chased it for a small distance until the rat ran into a hole.
   As the sun went down he found himself standing outside waiting for a rat to come out. He started out looking for chicken and dumplings and ended the day standing guard over a rat hole!

   Many of us are guarding rat holes when we should be doing much more. Many are satisfied and have lost the desire for dumplings but are content with rat soup.

   Ecclesiastes 5:7 says, For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.

   Try focusing on your God-given dream rather than chasing every empty one that crosses your path. It's the God-given dream that will fulfill you. The others will be empty.

We moved three times and carried our home with us

 
How many times have you moved? When my wife and I married we lived in a three-room shotgun-style house. 

   Later, we moved to a house with two bedrooms, but the landlord sold the house from under us. We later moved to an apartment that had a few more modern amenities. 

  We moved out of the apartment when the rent increased to $150 a month. I thought that was outrageous. That was 1976. 

  My mother died and we moved in the house she left behind. We've lived in that house for over 40 years, rent-free. 

  I was in my 20s then, young people in their 20s move a lot. Others move, too.

  We all move around a lot. Every if we buy a house, in reality, it's not permanent. One day, we'll leave it behind. 

   Every place we live is like a little condominium or travel inn that we occupy for a while and then leave behind.

  We are on a journey that will take us to who knows where. Jesus said those who trust him will finally have a permanent home with him in heaven. 

 John 14:2 says, “My Father’s house has many mansions . . . . I am going there to prepare a place for you” 

  Whether we live in a shotgun house, a condo, or a mansion, it becomes a home when there is love inside the walls, otherwise, it’s just a house, a place to lay your head.

  We should remember the words of C.S. Lewis who said, “Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” 

  Home is where the heart is. Where we live now is just a comfortable rest stop on our way to our real home which is in heaven where we will be with the Lord forever.

My surprise birthday party

   On June 29th, I turned 70 years old. In the week prior to my 70th birthday, I was out of the city with a busload of youth on a learning tour of Louisiana. When I returned home I received a call that a couple who used our church fellowship facility the prior day was creating a scene at the facility. She insisted, they said, that she had another day promised. She brought wedding guests as well, I was told.
   Before I could unpack, I rushed to the facility and was greatly disturbed because there were cars parked everywhere, "This woman has lost her mind," I thought.
  When I walked in the door, I was hit with a giant, "Surprise!"
   They got me!
   There were church members, family, politicians, and friends packed into the facility and big projector on the stage that showed videos tributes from people I have mentored over the years. There was food, laughter, music, and memories.
   God was praised.
   It was the first birthday, I've ever had. Ever.
   Some denominations teach that we should not celebrate birthdays. They note that birthday celebrations are only mentioned twice in the Bible, the Egyptian Pharaoh in Joseph’s time (Genesis 40:20) and King Herod in Jesus’ time (Matthew 14:6; Mark 6:21). Since both these men were non-believers, they think it's wrong to have a birthday party.

   Celebrating birthdays is not prohibited in scripture. If a Christian chooses to celebrate a birthday as a special day, that’s all right; if a believer does not celebrate birthdays, that’s all right, too. Let each be “fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5-6)

   It's a matter of choice, but if there is a celebration, it should be done decently and in order in a way that glorifies the Lord.

   They surprised me on my 70th birthday.

   They gave me a party to remember.

   God was glorified.

Lessons from the Cookie Jar

In 1959 I returned to Monroe from Oakland, California after an intermittent two-year stay in the Alameda County home for Delinquents. In California, I was incarcerated at eight years old for burglary and theft. Finally, the courts sent me back to Monroe where I was to live with my dad.

He was always busy with his businesses and I lived in his 20th street house mostly alone. I moved in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt Hill, who lived across the street. I moved in, spending the nights frequently and bringing more of my things with every overnight stay.

She noticed that I was obviously trying to move in and she and her husband talked to my dad who gladly gave his permission. 

I had to learn the rules of her house, which were very strict. She showed me the pictures of her three children on the wall. One was a nurse and two were school teachers. She said if I planned to live in her house that I should also plan to go to college, like all of her children.

She also showed me the cookie jar. It was green and yellow porcelain and looked like an oversized ear of corn. She baked fresh cookies regularly and kept the jar filled with oatmeal and peanut butter cookies. At the end of the day, if I didn’t break any rules, my reward was to treat myself with cookies from the jar.

If I broke the rules, I lost my cookie jar privileges and received an additional hour of “reading” as a punishment. (Three hours a day was standard reading time, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That was another house rule). When I broke a house rule she presented me with the “A” volume of the Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia which was followed by all of the others as my delinquent behavior continued.

It took two years for me to even slightly reform. When I didn’t earn a cookie, I took one. Each stolen cookie came with a long lecture afterward and another hour of reading. She counted the cookies in the jar, I counted the hours I spent reading stupid books like the encyclopedia.

“Don’t steal, don’t lie and don’t beg. Be a man that pleases God.” That was the lecture, I knew it from memory and could recite it verbatim. After the lecture, she’d hug me and say she expected great things from me. She was the only person close to me that hugged me. My dad never hugged me, I rarely saw my mother even though she was in the same city; she didn’t hug me either. No matter what I did, Mrs. Hill hugged me and said she expected great things from me; but only after I had finished reading.

The jar became more than a cookie container; it was a reminder that even though I was a delinquent I could grow up and do something meaningful if I could make a turn and keep my hand out of the cookie jar.

Since reading was the punishment for stealing cookies or breaking any of her rules

Ethan and Cadence Wright with the Cookie Jar

, I made it to “Z” many times.

When I saw a picture of my grandsons with that Cookie Jar, it brought back memories. I hated that cookie jar, but I loved the cookies. That cookie jar offered a reward but it also meant hours of reading for breaking the rules. As I sat for hours crying and reading, that cookie jar became symbol reward and punishment.

The upside from all of that reading was I began an honor student in the 5th grade at J.S.Clark Elementary although I never really completed the 3rd and 4th grade because I was locked up in juvenile hall. I learned to read well and increased my vocabulary.

I hated the cookie jar because it resulted in many extra hours of torment reading the encyclopedia, the Bible, Life Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Comic Books and the Newspaper.

Now, 60 years later, reading is a habit. On most weeks, I read four books at a time, jumping from one to another. My wife reads, too. 

I hope my grandsons learn the lessons of the cookie jar and develop a taste for reading, too. I’m glad they have the cookie jar and I hope they take of it because it has a lot of significance in our family.

He made me prepare for college, I preached his funeral

I was 14 years old and had no intention of going to college, because nobody in our family ever attended even a day of college. They all worked hard, but college was not in the picture. In fact, I was a C-D student. My favorite classes were lunch break, recess, and school vacations.

I thought college was unnecessary because I didn’t need to go to college to make money. I always found a way to make money. I sold seeds, greeting cards, newspapers, comic books, light bulbs, and pecans. I mowed lawns, raked leaves, shined shoes, wrote plays, and sold them. I had three News-Star paper routes, a News-Leader route and earned $15 a week writing a weekly teen column. College was out of the picture for me. I knew how to make money and it sure wasn’t working a $1.15 cent an hour minimum wage job or sitting in a boring class all day.

However, at Carroll High School, a student like me had no choice, preparing for college was not optional. What was optional were electives. The school wanted every graduate to be prepared for college AND to graduate with a skill that would help them get a job.

The school guidance counselor, Richard Miles chose business electives for me. He said I should go to college and study journalism, theater and the arts, but I was convinced that I wasn’t college material. I was so slow in some classes that when the teacher called my name and announced my grade as “B” I ducked because I thought I would be stung.

Mr. Miles said, “Our job is to prepare you for your future, whether you use it or not. If you choose to be a wine head and sit on the street corner it’s your choice, but Carroll will give you the knowledge needed to stop being a bum, when you get ready, and climb the ladder to success.”

Between 1964-67 I never made the honor roll once, but I was also suspended once for pulling the fire alarm. I was paddled often, frequently sent to the principal’s office, ran away from home, and was the school fool. The senior class had seven homerooms. The smartest students were in division 12/1. I was in 12/7. By all estimates, I wasn’t cut out for college; but the school’s principal Henry Carroll forced me, and others like me, to prepare anyway.

I complained but, Mr. Miles chose business electives for me. I learned to type 80 words a minute on blind keyboards using touch. I had to take Algebra for college prep, but business math and bookkeeping as electives. I was also required to participate in “Junior Achievement” which prepared students to own and operate businesses, manufacture products, sell stock and pay dividends to stockholders. The school taught us that black people should learn to own businesses and provide jobs rather than always looking for a job.

The class that was most challenging was “Gregg Shorthand.” I was the only boy in the class, but I learned it quickly. Each little line meant something and a person who was proficient at shorthand could accurately take notes; there were no tape recorders or cell phone records. I used it to write plays and later to take reporter’s notes, sermon notes and more. The strokes were quick and smooth, but they looked like chicken scratch.

Today, I still use some of the shorthand strokes. I learned in high school. I type 93 words a minute, and I use the business understanding that I learned from high school “Junior Achievement.” I used everything I learned from my business electives over a lifetime and ended up going to college after all; Mr. Miles was right. I eventually earned two degrees from ULM and a Doctorate in Theology.

Today, my longhand and cursive writing looks horrible. Strangely, the scribbled strokes of my high school shorthand still look the same. I went to college and built on the foundation I received at Carroll.

I bless the memory of Mr. Richard Miles. He wouldn’t let me take the easy route.

Many years later, I became his pastor.

I preached his funeral.

My notes for his funeral oration, entitled, “Milestones” were written in shorthand and typed on a word processor at 93 words a minute.

Trump, Cosby, others prove that dark secrets will come to light

    With the recent conviction of Bill Cosby for alleged sexual offenses against a woman several decades ago, attention is brought to Bible truth that dark secrets will one day be revealed.

    The conviction of Cosby, which is being appealed, is highlighted by the fact that 50 women have accused him of virtually the same offense: drugging them and then having sex with them. The fact that these accusations took as long as 40 years to surface disturbs many people, but it highlights a basic Biblical truth: What's done in the dark will come to the light.

    Cosby's name was a shocker to many because of his "Mr. Clean" image derived from "The Cosby Show" reputation being the ideal family man and, "America's Dad." However, he is not alone. Since October of 2017 over 70 high profile men have faced similar charges including Donald Trump, President of the United States; Harvey Weinstein, a powerful movie industry personality; Donovan McNabb, football player; Matt Lauer, the Today Show anchor; Russell Simmons of Def Jam Records, and many more. Most of these men are accused of sexual offenses that were allegedly committed decades ago.

   All of these accusations from decades ago brings to light Luke 8:17, "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."

    The accusations against these men were hidden from the public view for many reasons. The general public in King David's time would not have known about King David's dark and sinful activities with Bathsheba had it not been for the fact the Prophet Nathan called him out. Then, the whole story started to unravel: How David had an affair with her, impregnated her, and then caused her husband to be killed in battle to cover it up.

    It was done in the dark, but he came to the light.

    We are not immune. Neither can we point fingers.  All of us have dark secrets we hope stay in the dark and in the past. We would certainly be embarrassed if some of our darkest moments came to light.

    That's why we are thankful that Jesus is forgiving and merciful. He wipes out our indiscretions from God's book and gives us a chance at eternal life. That's the core of our faith. 

    Unfortunately, although our sins may be expunged from God's judgment, the courts of law are not so forgiving; that's what Mr. Cosby and others are finding out.